


Before and After

by TheDarkChocolateLord



Series: Keeptober 2020 [19]
Category: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger
Genre: Angst, Book 8.5: Unlocked, Canon Compliant, F/M, Gen, SPOILERS FOR UNLOCKED
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:22:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27361927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDarkChocolateLord/pseuds/TheDarkChocolateLord
Summary: SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST CHAPTER OF BOOK 8.5: UNLOCKED.After Oralie opens her cache, she writes Kenric a letter.
Relationships: Councillor Kenric/Councillor Oralie (Keeper of the Lost Cities)
Series: Keeptober 2020 [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1973125
Comments: 6
Kudos: 5





	Before and After

_ Kenric, _

_ Remember the time you came over when were preparing for our first meeting with Enki? We ended up making ripplefluffs when we were done with our work and they were a complete mess but they tasted really good. _

_ Remember that heat wave when it was way too hot for formal jerkins so we wore matching dresses to a Council meeting? _

_ Remember that night we went to Siren Rock and looked at the stars and it felt like we were just two ordinary elves, not two Councillors against the world? _

_ Remember all the little things we did that made us more than colleagues? _

_ I thought you just wanted to protect me. I thought I had you by my side no matter what. _

_ Until I opened that cache.  _

_ You wouldn't tell me anything about stellarlune. Forced information out of me that would topple the elvin world if it was revealed. Then wiped my mind without any notice and without my permission.  _

_ You didn't trust me. Didn't let me have my own opinions or make my own choices..  _

_ And who knows if you erased anything else from my mind? Who knows what happened that night when I woke up and you were in my sitting room with a stranger? _

_ I don't know what to think, Kenric.  _

_ I can't believe that the person in the cache was you. _

_ I'm done coming to your Wanderling when I need to think. Done pretending you're out there somewhere, listening.  _

_ It's clear that you didn't listen to me. _

_ Now that you're gone, some days it feels like it's me against the world, but you know what? If it's me against the world there's nobody manipulating me or deceiving me. If it's me against the world, I'm done caring what other people think. If it's me against the world, I'm fine with risking my sanity and nobody can tell me no.  _

_ I have your cache, and it contains the information Sophie and I need. _

_ I'm opening it tonight.  _

_ And here's where you step in and remind me that 'empaths shatter more easily' and 'you don't need to take this risk'. Maybe I thought that was true a long time ago, when I still wanted to believe that you loved me and that our world was almost perfect. _

_ Our world is messed up in all kinds of ways, and the only way to set things right is doing some messed up things in return. _

_ And I don't know if you really loved me. I never will. But I'm done with dreaming and wishing and hoping for what will never be. _

_ Goodbye. _

_ Oralie _

  
  



End file.
